We walked for most of the morning, and as noon approached, we arrived at the mouth of a mountain valley.
The valley was vast, filled with incredibly dense trees, and there were virtually no paths, only bushes everywhere.
Dake told us that once we passed through this valley, we would reach our destination.
I had originally thought he would continue with us, but instead, he said he had to go back.
I saw that Fu Honglang didn't stop him; instead, he thanked him.
After Dake left, we rested for nearly an hour.
During this time, Fu Honglang, Xiao Liu, and Shi Tou were busy tinkering with their equipment: climbing ropes, crampons, and Luoyang shovels.
Fatty sat next to me and said, "Master Xiang, professionals are truly different. Look at this gear..."
I looked at his plump face and said, "Can you cause less trouble from now on?"
Fatty looked bewildered. "What did I do? I haven't caused any trouble..."
I was too lazy to argue with him and stood up, preparing to relieve myself nearby.
As soon as I unbuttoned my pants, before I could even start, I noticed a river flowing downstream not far away. Even from a distance, I could see the water was incredibly clear.
I thought to myself, I haven't had a proper wash in days, why not go for a scrub in the river later?
Just as this thought crossed my mind, I noticed something floating down the river.
After I finished, I walked over curiously and discovered a floating corpse on the river's surface!
Startled, I shouted, "Fatty! Wang Yang!"
Hearing my voice, the two of them rushed over quickly, and even Fu Honglang and the others came running.
"Master Xiang, what's wrong?" Fatty asked.
I pointed to the river. "Look, what is that?"
Everyone looked. Fatty blinked, "Isn't that Ou Bao?"
Hearing Fatty say that, I looked closely and realized the clothes on the floating corpse were indeed somewhat familiar!
Fu Honglang asked Xiao Liu to bring over the reassembled Luoyang shovel. "Quick, let's fish it out and take a look!"
After the body was retrieved, it was severely bloated from being in the water, and its features were completely unrecognizable.
"This body has been in the water for a considerable time," Fu Honglang stated.
"Can you confirm this person is Ou Bao?" I asked.
Fu Honglang didn't reply but began searching the body. After a moment, he pulled out some sodden banknotes, a few hundred yuan bills.
"It should be him," Fu Honglang said, his brow furrowed.
I felt a sense of confusion. How did Ou Bao end up here? What was he doing in the valley?
And how did he die?
Seeing everyone's expressions, I realized they were thinking along similar lines.
"Where's his black cat?" Fatty asked.
No one answered him. Now that the man was dead, who cared about a black cat?
"He doesn't have any fatal wounds, and the cause of death is unclear," Fu Honglang said. "Let's bury his body first."
Although I wasn't very familiar with Ou Bao, we had spent a couple of days together. He was a living person just the other day, and now he was dead. I felt a sense of shared mortality, a feeling of pity for a fellow traveler.
Just as we were preparing to dig a grave, Fatty suddenly yelled and told us to look.
He pointed upstream. We looked up and saw a dense mass of corpses floating down the river!
Upon seeing this sight, I instinctively took a step back. The scene was simply too horrific!
Fu Honglang and the others also became wary, drawing their tools.
Soon, the floating corpses drifted towards us. Upon closer inspection, they were all bodies wrapped in strips of cloth, much like mummies.
The cloth wrapping those corpses was all black, resembling small, dark coffins.
"These are likely sacrificial offerings of people and animals," Wang Yang said. "Someone must have dug open a sacrificial pit."
At this point, the only group that had gone ahead of us was Mao Guizhi's party. This meant the sacrificial pit was very likely dug by them.
Fu Honglang took a deep breath upon hearing this. "Stop looking. Prepare to set off."
For some reason, although Wang Yang's deduction was plausible, I still felt that these floating corpses didn't resemble sacrificial victims.
After all, in ancient times, sacrificial offerings of people and animals were rarely wrapped so tightly in black cloth.
But I couldn't quite articulate what those floating corpses actually were.
To figure out what was going on, we would only know once we went inside.
We continued on our way. Fatty solicitously took the backpack off my shoulders. "Master Xiang, let me carry that for you. You can walk more easily."
I wondered why this fat guy had suddenly become so helpful.
Sure enough, as he took my backpack, he said, "Master Xiang, when we go inside later, if anything happens... please don't abandon me."
I deliberately tried to scare him. "That's hard to say. Who knows what's inside? If I can't even save myself, how can I worry about you?"
"Ah?" Fatty was taken aback. "Then... when you can save yourself, please don't stand by and watch."
I said, "Fatty, I do have a way to keep you completely unharmed."
He brightened. "What way?"
I pointed back the way we came. "There. You can go back the way you came and wait for us at Geyi Village. I guarantee nothing will happen to you."
He looked dejected. "Master Xiang, don't tease me... I finally got out to do some grave robbing. How can I possibly go back like this? Then, when I return to Panjiayuan, how will I..."
He trailed off, and I finished for him, "How to brag, right? I thought you were pretty convincing last night."
"How can what I said last night be considered bragging? It was..."
Fatty clamped a hand over his mouth. I looked at him with a half-smile. This damn fatty remembered everything from last night!
He had been pretending all morning!
"Master Xiang..."
Fatty gave an awkward smile and tried to say something else, but I was too lazy to bother. I strode forward and quickened my pace.
"Master Xiang, wait for me... slow down..."
By a little past two in the afternoon, we had finally passed through the valley.
However, along the way, we found no traces of anyone having passed through.
Arriving at a mountain hollow, Fu Honglang sniffed the air and shouted, "They're up ahead!"
Hearing him, we quickly broke into a jog.
A few minutes later, on a flat area, we saw several tents!
Fu Honglang was the first to rush to the tents, shouting, "Guizhi! Guizhi!"
As soon as he spoke, there was no response.
Beside the tents were many pieces of equipment, including lighting lamps, gasoline canisters, and some shovels.
I walked to the extinguished campfire and touched it with my hand, finding it still warm, indicating that someone had spent the night here.